Knowledge or Truth
by bromemos
Summary: What would happen if Snape never showed up in Myrtle's lavatory 6th year? What would happen if Draco Malfoy turned on the Dark Lord? Rated M for M rated subject matter and words. Please take note of the genre order, I don't do smut.


**A/N: JK owns it. **

* * *

**Knowledge or Truth**

**bromemos**

'What the hell was Malfoy doing in Myrtle's bathroom? Did he just come from the Chamber? Is that why his dot just appeared on the Marauders Map? Was there something in the Chamber I didn't notice during second year? Was that where Malfoy kept disappearing too? Was he working for Voldemort? Was Voldemort in the Chamber right now?' Harry's thoughts were starting to get a bit paranoid and he knew it, but **CONSTANT VIGILANCE** didn't seem so insane anymore. There were more pressing issues than his mental health at the moment, though. Harry realized he'd been running after bowling over a suit of armor with an accompanying cacophony loud enough for old dumbledee to hear. Finding his way to the door, Harry forced himself to get his breathing under control. 'It would do no good to alert Voldemort to your presence by panting too heavily.' All things considered, carefully sneaking his way into a girl's lavatory was not an act Harry was extremely versed in, but he pulled it off pretty well.

Harry's emotions were a little unsure about the sight that greeted him. In all years previous he would have been laughing at the pathetic little sobs coming out of Malfoy, but losing Sirius had rendered him annoyingly incapable of taking pleasure from others' pain. Voldemort was probably the exception, but any sadism towards him was perfectly understandable. So he watched his former arch-rival from the darkest corner he could find.

Myrtle's words of comfort were surprising, he had never known her to be anything but self-absorbed. "Don't…Don't cry, tell me what's wrong…I can help you"

"**NO ONE** can help me…I can't do it. It won't work." Harry was torn between interrogating Malfoy as to what 'it' was, and getting the hell out of there, but before he could make a decision, he barely heard the last three words, and even then it took a while to register. "He'll kill me."

Harry couldn't stop the words before they were past his lips. "Who will?"

Malfoy instantly spun around, revealing the ears covering his cheeks and the stains on his robes. Harry barely had time to dodge behind the sinks before a trio of bone breaking and splintering hexes filled the space he left behind. His _stupefy'_s were halfhearted at best while he tried to remember his DADA training. There was something about Malfoy's tear and snot covered face that just wiped his mind. Who knew the Prince of Slytherin was capable of emotion. A few of the more powerful bludgeoning curses flew by before he decided that now was not the time for _Expelliarmus_. because his instincts had served him so well in the past, Harry went with them.

_"_**_SECTUMSEMPRA_**_"_

And with that it was over. Harry was relieved for all of two seconds before he saw the blood coming through Malfoy's robes.

"Shit."

_Episkey _wasn't gonna do it, that much was obvious. Deciding that Madam Pomfrey, as talented as she was, would be unable to save Malfoy in time, Harry used every bit of healing magic he could think of, with nearly null effect. Pulling out the damned potions textbook, he flipped through it with fingers shaking almost to the point of uselessness. The Half-Blood Prince didn't dedicate any section of his magnum opus to healing spells, much to Harry's chagrin. Finding the page with the cursed curse, the spell directly under _Sectumsempra_ called out to him. It was crazy to even consider it. 'Why would he put the counter to any curse in this book? Everything else in here is offensive with varying degrees of dark. Do you have any other options right now Potter?' His mind made up, Harry practiced the wand movement a few times, no sense in exploding Malfoy after all this worry about his safety.

"_Vulnera Sanentur"_

* * *

Harry's hands were shaking too much to complete the intricate and extremely necessary wand movements. It took him four minutes before he was able to complete the Animasaxum, during which Draco was writhing in pain. "Draco the runes will let me talk to you, I'll always be with you, but are you sure this is what you want? I...I can't do it if you're not sure."

"KILL ME," Harry couldn't tell what words came after. The screaming was a little hard to hear through. "PLEASE."

Taking Draco's already bloodied hand, and pressing the small stone into it, Harry brought all the hate he felt to the forefront of his mind. Most of it was already there, and had been there since Tom activated Draco's mark. It had been three of the most horrible days of their lives, as Draco tried to think anything other than screaming, and Harry scoured through dark magic looking for a cure.

He had searched through all the black sacrificial healing tomes the Potters, Blacks, and Malfoys had access too, but nothing could break the hold Tom had on his husband. (They weren't officially married, the only official way would be a 3/4 vote of with the entire Wizengamot present, and even that was a loophole meant to end a family's line; but they had made the vows and cast the bond.) Harry ended up looking through ways of keeping the soul on this earth, while ending the pain. It was a big step down from destroying the bond, but anything was better than what was happening now. Draught of the Living Death would keep the soul here, but due to the Mark's hold on his mind, Draco would still feel everything.

A very tired and defeated Harry started looking into death magic. Destroying the body was the only way to stop the pain, and the soul could be kept on Earth. Taking a page out of tom's book (or is it journal?) was out of the question, Horcruxes require the murder of an innocent and take half of the creator's soul away permanently. A mere six hours ago Harry found his holy grail in the form of a small slavers' tome. It was sealed under the floorboards of the Black Library, and had to be found by ear after Harry called books on soul magicks. Following the thumping, Harry used a quick _Expulso _and out came that wretched book. At the end, as an anecdote, Animasaxi were described as an eternal punishment for those unlucky enough to royally piss off their masters. The idea was to absorb the soul into a stone, seal it, and throw it in the fireplace or some other inhospitable climate. The reason it only garnered an anecdote, and three chapters were dedicated to castration, was because it was wildly unsuccessful. Souls cannot feel pain without pain receptors. Rocks do not have pain receptors. Harry found it promising though, and researched.

"_Avada Kadavra"_

The horrid green light shot out of Harry's wand for the first time in his life. He felt nearly as much anguish as Draco had been feeling, seeing his husband lifeless. Within seconds, a silvery white mist started collecting around the stone in Draco's hand. Within a minute the mist was gone, the only noticeable change in the stone were the 37 runes glowing with life.

Harry screamed. He screamed bloody murder as he waited for the stone to finish stabilizing. When he was done screaming, he walked to the center of the Black Manor ritual room. Calling upon the ward Keystone as the Last Scion of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, he cut his finger and made himself its Lord. He traced the centuries old runes, leaving a layer of glowing blood and activating the blood wards. He'd learned a lot since _Mufflioto. _Since Hogwarts. He took out his wand and carved a few more runes in the ancient block of obsidian. The old wards would keep tom out, they were among the few that could, but he wanted Snakeface to suffer for taking his husband. Harry took the stone in his hand and immediately felt Draco against his skin. It took a few minutes of concentration, but he found the right part of his brain to speak in. "_Draco"_

_"Harry! Harry its gone! I cant feel him anymore!" _Tears were streaming down Harry's face by the time his knees hit the floor.

"_D…Draco…I…I'm so sorry. I know I had to, but I have to feel horrible for killing you. I need you here." _He felt like the stupid queer Dudly always said he was.

"_You saved me Harry, thats it. You proved your heroism and saved me. Now that I know where you are I can feel your entire mind. If you think those whale arseholes were right about anything, ever, then I can see why you weren't in Ravenclaw." _Draco talked about feeling Harry's mind, but Harry could only feel draco's presence within him, no specific area like the brain.

"_I still need you Draco." _The world looked so bland to Harry without his husband in it. Ironic considering How bland Draco was.

_"I heard that."_

_"Bland in color Draco. Can you let me be depressed without making witty retorts? I need to put up some wards anyway, so let me focus."_

_"Let me bond my Core to yours. It should give you enough power to shock Voldy's socks off."_

_"You can so that? What else can you do? I've never heard about anything like that, and currently I'm one of the foremost experts in soul magicks."_

_"Well I see your core, and when I pour my magic into it, yours gets bigger. Its probably possible because we're bonded and you never sealed the stone, so I can travel into your body without possessing you. As to what else I can do…"_

Despite the circumstances, Harry blushed when he felt a very hard object straining against his pants. "_Very funny, now put it back to how it was before. I meant can you see my feelings or health or things like those?"_

_"I can see everything to do with you baby, and I'm not gonna let it down. You need some reminder of what my body could do for you, think of it as encouragement for making me another one."_

_"I'm going outside to add to the wards now, I'm guessing there will be death eaters and Moldywart himself out there soon, if it's not soft in 30 seconds I'm taking it out and showing them all what only you've seen." _Harry could be slithering if he wanted to.

_"Am I really the only one? What about the dorm showers, or Weasel, I cant imagine you two not peeling the banana together?"_

_"You remember what my body was like…I didn't want them to see the scars. And I never really did…that until you did it to me, the night in the bathroom on the second floor."_

_"Salazar and his Snakes Harry! You were 16! How did I not know this before?"_

_"I thought you would think I…I was a…freak. But now I can't hide from you, so I'll just have to accept your opinion of me." '_Freakfreakfreakfreakfreakfreakfagfreak'

_"Your innocence is astounding Harry, but you seem to think I view it as bad. I love it. It makes me more happy than I can understand to know that all the pleasure you've ever felt started with me. Your innocence also makes me sure that you're bluffing when you say you'll show off your bits to Voldywurst."_

_"I just killed my husband. Are you sure I'm so innocent?" _Harry was already unzipping his fly, he wanted to say fuck you to Tom and just found the perfect way.

"_Harry I don't mind if you show yourself to anyone or everyone, I'll most likely never see it again. You shouldn't hide behind my limitations. I can't really satisfy you now, so I'll understand if you want to find someone else." '_I just wont like it.'

"_Stop being so glum, I was trying to lighten the mood. Yes I do realize I'm pants at that. In all honesty, my body doesn't have the normal needs, sex with you is—was a trip on emotion for me, not a physical fuckfest."_

Harry walked out of the entrance hall and through the great Elder doors while pulling the Elder Wand from his pocket. It could feel the extra magic within Harry and sang a higher, somehow happier, note than usual. Using the power of the Elder wand, combined with his extremely expanded magical core, he started building a reflective dome around the manor. This wouldn't keep anyone out, but he already had 17 other wards for physical attacks, no, this stopped magic.

Normal magic blocking barriers could be equated to stone, they're very good at stopping magic in its tracks, but they have to dissipate the energy within themselves. Reflective barriers were extremely rare, not even Hogwarts had one anywhere but the headmaster's chambers. They required extreme power to build and support, and extreme control to smooth the surface of the ward enough to reflect magic. For the past thousand years the only recorded ones were around the Founders' manors, Gringotts, and Hogwarts. The incantation was a latin phrase of about 300 words, repeated 3 times. The barrier follows slightly different rules than normal wards. The incantation had to be repeated 3 times and only 3, any more and it would shatter and be of no use to anyone. In a way, Harry was grateful; he was sure if he's had to start putting up offensive physical wards it, he would have done too many repetitions in an attempt to strengthen them beyond what Wobblymort could break and be stuck in the middle of an incantation when the Death Munchers showed up. And they would show up.

The veritable explosion of black magic at the same moment Voldie lost his connection with Draco's soul was too much of a coincidence to ignore. It would take some time for the Death Eaters to triangulate his position—well he hoped it would take some time, with his luck the pulse could have drawn everyone who'd ever cast an unforgivable right to him.

By the end of the third incantation Harry's wand was glowing from the force of the magic pouring through it. If he hadn't studied wand lore enough to fix the cracks Tom put in it, he doubted it would stand up to this. Granted it would probably have broken many times before now, but the glowing from this was extreme, even for the Elder Wand. Harry watched the yellow tinted dome's glow fade into invisibility as the ward settled and connected with the Keystone.

Not a moment too soon either, as in that exact moment, the alarm wards that fanned out around the property started blaring in his mind. Harry found that the 'sounds' were loud enough to wake him if necessary, but uninvasive enough to allow his full concentration to be placed elsewhere. Namely Draco. "_He's here, Blondie." _Harry had come up with that original nickname after finding out that the genes that gave his famous white gold locks their color, were not limited to his head, as he'd always thought. His hair was all black, why wouldn't everyone else's.

"_Don't call me that! And focus, he's not a man to be trifled with. He would have killed me from hundreds of miles away without even knowing my location."_

_"_Ahhhhhh Potter…so good to see you again, my young friend. No reckless, poorly chosen string of curses? The loss of one so…dear must have weakened you." Voldemort's voice was magically amplified, but thankfully Harry's occlumency kept it from coming from inside his own head. "It was enjoyable to feel the lengths one as pure as yourself would go to try and save their…loved ones." Voldemort's distain for homosexuals was inherited from the pureblood mantra of 'must have children,' despite the well known ability to transfigure sperm into an egg and artificially inseminate a host witch. "But you of all people should know, no one defies me and lives. Especially ones who have taken my mark." Snape's brutal torture was used as a deterrent for anyone wishing to desert the dark.

"_I'm gonna try to get him mad, if he just attacks my wards without thinking to test them, it'll drain him more. Sound good? You were the only one who could beat the Weasel at chess."_

_"Sounds kinda pointless, but go ahead, let's see what Potty's oh-so-special ward can do."_

_"Can you see what I can?" _That could potentially be quite useful.

_"I'm in you, why wouldn't I be able to? I can see your memories too. I'm still looking around right now, but ill know more later. Enough chit-chat, can't keep the Dark Lord waiting."_

_"_Does poor little Tommy not feel loved? Becoming this whole Moldywarts person was a lot of unnecessary effort just to get a bloke. You could try having a personality that was slightly less irritating than nails on a chalkboard."

_"_Insolent swine, even without the Elder Wand I'll tear down the strongest Black wards you could cower behind." The dark nature of the House of Black was notoriously reflected in their protective magics. The legends of armies' eyes being torn out before slaughter originated from the Middle ages and had followed the Black family ever since.

"Oh please. Now that I know this wand, it's obvious that a squib could bring down Hogwarts' wards with a cleaning charm."

"For that, Potter, I'll force your soul into a Horcrux to keep you alive without your boyfriend for eternity." Suspending the small talk, Voldie cast a spell Harry couldn't make out and a light blue light shot out from his wand.

Harry felt the alarms at the back of his mind flare up before going silent right as he saw the burning remnants of his alarm wards start falling from the sky. No matter, informative wards were easily cast, and the ancient ones hadn't been very complex or powerful to begin with. After celebrating his easy victory, Voldemort quickly realized there were still a number of wards in place around the Manor. Moving to where he saw the edge of them to be, he cast the same unknown spell again, but this time Harry felt the power jump up. 'No creativity,' he thought, slightly amused at the annoyed expression coming from Snakeface.

As uncreative as he was, Voldemort was not stupid. He could feel his magic bouncing off the wards and pouring into the air around him. He lifted the spell before he wasted any more of his magical core on fruitless efforts. Due to his nature Voldemort had a very limited knowledge of protective magic. He had a substantial knowledge of ward breaking, but not much ability with wards themselves. Why would he ever need to? He was a Dark Lord; the only think that needed protecting was his life, and that was taken care of. But how do you break magic that can't be touched by magic? 'To hell with magic, all the wards in the world are useless if their keystone overloads.'

"_Sonorus. _MacNair, release the acromantulas." 'Those halfwit creatures will attack until the wards fall, no matter how many get incinerated in the process.'

Incinerated was perhaps the best possible word Voldemort could think in that situation. He watched with growing anger as hundreds of giant imperiused spiders sizzled out of existence when they reached the boundaries of the wards.

Harry was slightly concerned. He understood wards well enough, (He and Draco had been looking for bolt-holes for over a year, and warding was certainly THE most important factor) so he could easily reach the conclusion that Voldemort was attempting to shatter the keystone by overloading it. While the army outside was occupied with directing spiders to slaughter, Harry slipped inside the manor to check on the Stone. Walking into the ritual room, he could hardly believe the amount of magic being pulled from the earth and into the Keystone. He thought the manor must be directly above at least one Leyline just from the magic he could feel. As he reached out to touch the stone, he hoped to god he wouldn't burn his hand off, but there was no other way to test the temperature. There were no temperature and power level indication runes (an oversight he intended to correct at the earliest opportunity) and casting spells on an object directing that much magic was suicide. He was pleasantly surprised to find the obsidian block to be as cold as stone.

At the moment, 3 of the runes were lit, telling Harry that the Incineratus, Sipholia, and Repercutio wards were all active. Incineratus was a simple, albeit nasty ward. Anything uninvited that touched it's barrier or somehow showed up inside it (via portkey, apparation, ect…) would be burned to a crisp, and then the crips would be burned into nothingness. It took a team of about 20 powerful warders to set a ward of this type, large enough to cover the manor and grounds, so Harry was glad it was already placed. Sipholia was a more obscure ward that was classed as illegal in almost every country with a ministry. Anything magical, creature or wizard, that touched it's circumference would have it's magic instantly drained and collected. For magical creatures that did not have controllable magic, or lacked the intelligence to use it, Sipholia would drain their life force, as that was where their magic was stored. The main reason behind its complete illegality, was that wizards really didn't like the possibility of losing their magic, and every known way to siphon or bind magic was considered a capital offense. Repercutio was the official name of the ward Harry had put up that afternoon. Harry found that he could activate or deactivate the wards by touching their corresponding runes, but the current combination was proving more than back outside he decided to ask Draco what he thought of the Keystone.

"_Draco, what have you read about Keystone materials."…"Draco?"_

_"What the fuck Harry!? I'm going to fucking kill them! With or without a body I'll make sure they're dead. How could you not tell me about this?" _Harry's stomach seemed to suddenly drop to below his intestines.

_"…About what Draco?"_

_"The muggle filth you…you _served _for 16 years."_

_"How…how did you find out" _Harry thought the question with more meekness than Draco had ever heard in his voice.

"_I'm inside your head Harry, you don't have secrets, and if you concentrated on my memories, I'm sure I wouldn't either."_

_"GET OUT OF MY HEAD." _Harry managed to fake anger to cover up his shame, but seeing as Draco could feel his emotions, it wouldn't work very well.

"_Salazar Harry, you're so insecure sometimes. It won't drive me away, I just want to avenge you. I want to talk to you about it and make you feel better and forget what happened with them. I love you, they don't matter anymore."_

_"Now isn't the time Draco, I need to find out whether or not these wards will withstand the attack, and if I need to portkey to another property."_

_"Alright Harry, but we will talk about this." _Draco took a second to gather himself. "_I haven't read too much about the materials themselves, but I know the basics and can make some inferences off of them._

_"Ward keystones are almost exactly like wands. They're magical foci, but the main differences are that they have specific purposes decided by runes placed on them, they can only use magic for an area effect, and they draw their power from the Earth. The strength of the stone directly relates to the load it can withstand. It's commonly accepted that sandstone is the weakest stone that can support wards, and diamond is the strongest. However there are more factors in play; The size of the stone is what determines how much magic the keystone can pull from the Earth, and thus how many wards can be tied to it and how large the area they cover can be. The last, and most interesting factor is the magical significance of the specific stone. That category is intentionally vague, so I'll wait before explaining it in detail. Obsidian is considered exceptional for ward keystones. It's quite expensive, but nearly as strong as diamond, and due to its volcanic nature, much harder to overload. It can be found in almost any size chunk, from the size of a snitch to your average sized trunk. The stone in Black Manor has to be one of the largest ever recorded. Magical significance is really quite a convoluted contributing factor. It makes stones of the same material and size act in different ways, and gives unique qualities to each keystone. From the extreme opacity of the obsidian in the ritual room, I would expect that all the obsidian in Black Manor was taken from the eruption of Mount Olympus. Any stone to touch the mountain would immediately have increased strength and pull, but to be made of the mountain itself, the keystone will have incredible power that I can only speculate on." _Draco didn't like speculation as a rule. After his father was killed because of a careless assumption, he became extremely opposed to making plans with unknown variables.

_"You and I have very different definitions of the basics, but thank you Draco. Have you noticed that time seems to slow to a stop when we talk with each other?"_

_"I cant really tell time in currently, but I'll take your word for it, baby."_

_'_Oops, that was a little insensitive.' _"What about magical materials?"_

_"Stone is created by the Earth, and is made of the Earth itself, so there are no 'magical'' materials for keystones. Some minerals can be infused with magic to give certain properties, but those are usually precious stones that aren't much use as wardstones. Also, its pointless to give a keystone specific magical properties, because the magic being funneled through it will wash away any enchantments. The raw magic is affected by the properties of the stone though, so granite keystones will be suited to magical barriers, and marble is good for concealment wards. I believe obsidian is suited to offensive wards, and specifically fire. It would be really great if you could find a ritual to share knowledge between us, because all this talking is draining."_

_"Ok, thats first priority after this madman pisses off, but right now I'm just glad we have such strong fire wards."_ When they finished talking, Harry snapped back to normal time as he walked onto the balcony.

The scene before him was almost comical. Due to the _Oculus Figere_ ritual Draco had performed on his eyes when he turned 18, he could see the vastly dwindling supply of acromantulas being vaporized in a flash of flame as they reached the wards. The Death Eaters around them were looking a bit peaked at the display of power, and some were apparating away in case their lord ordered a full attack. Harry could see a fuming Voldemort standing at the edge of the forest, right before the ward line. This was a little concerning. An enraged Voldemort is if anything, far more deadly. Harry wasn't sure exactly how strong his Repercutio was. He'd only learned the incantation from a page in his mother's journals. Never one to idly wait for Voldemort she had been throwing her considerable intelligence and access into protective rituals and wards in the final year of her life. She had calculated that it would take 49 wizards well versed in warding to cast a Repercutio around their house in Godrics Hollow.

Immediately deciding on a course of action, Harry walked back inside and keyed himself into the manor's anti-portkey wards, then activated the Potter Signet ring. Hoping Voldie didn't notice his absence, he quickly ran down the entrance hall staircase and into the basement. The Potter family wasn't as feared as the Black family, but they had the odd reputation of being unfindable when enemies came knocking. This was less to do with cowardice and more to do with the multitude of concealment wards created by the Potters over hundreds of generations. The Fedelius was undoubtedly their magnum opus. Harry's father's journal had revealed an astonishing amount of history within. Harry hadn't been able to read the official family histories or the Blood Book yet, they were hidden in the Potter libraries and Harry refused to leave Draco alone for the length of time needed to find and read them. There was bad news incoming for anyone attempting to remove an old Family's Blood Book from their ancestral library, and without the Book, Draco couldn't be added to the wards.

Reaching the wardstone, Harry keyed himself into the wards and, after inspecting the bookcase sized block of quartz, touched the rune roughly translating to "Hide." Then he waited as 3 connected runes started to glow. Once he was sure the manor was completely hidden from the outside world, Harry (and Draco) headed for the library.

Normally the lords leave the location of the Book in their personal journals for their heirs to fine and read after their deaths, but James never believed he was in true mortal danger. The location of the Potter Blood Book was completely unknown, for all Harry knew, it could be under a separate Fidelius. The Potter library was a new experience for him. He had seen the Black and Malfoy libraries, the former being a veritable cave filled with ancient tomes and stone slabs, the latter resembled an enlarged Rose Reading Room, with bookcases replacing the desks, (although, according to Draco, the NYC Public Library was built by a Malfoy, so really the Rose Room resembled Malfoy Library) and couldn't help but be disappointed by the Potter Library. It was a room about half the size of the entrance hall with 14 bookcases along the walls and freestanding in the room. There was a curious area in the center though. In a 2x2 meter square, the floor turned from the normal marble of the rest of the manor, to a matte blue material Harry couldn't recognize. Above the square, the ceiling was slightly raised and a latin phrase was engraved in the marble. "_To know is to quote, Knowledge,"_ Draco translated. Latin lessons were provided for every pureblood, because so much of the wizarding world is in latin.

"_What do you think it is? Does saying 'knowledge' unlock something?"_

_"Maybe, might as well try it. We have plenty of time now, without Voldie chasing after us."_

_"Can I let the world die while I hide in giant mansions?" _Draco had changed Harry's perspective on the world, but leaving it to Voldemort seemed a bit harsh, even for cowardly sheep.

_"You've beaten him 3 times, they owe you at least a few millennia of holiday for that. Think about it, if you go out and die, we'd never communicate again. I'm stuck in this rock forever, and you'd be wherever shades live."_ Harry still wasn't convinced, but he wasn't about to go against Draco.

_"Ok, that seems fair enough,"_ Harry stood on the blue and yelled _"_KNOWLEDGE."

Nothing happened except a feeling of slight amusement from Draco. "_What? Whats funny? I figured if it were unlocking something than the sound would need to reach the lock."_

_"It's not the yelling Harry, it's that you said it in English."_

_"Why shouldn't I? The Potters are an English family, you know that."_

_"Yes, but it's written in Latin, and only an idiot would make a password to a library 'Knowledge,' Try 'scientia.'"_

_"_SCIENTIA." And with a pop, Harry portkeyed away.

* * *

Harry appeared in an open stone building, in the middle of a grassy plain. Directly in front of him was one of the largest buildings he'd ever seen, so large that it rivaled the entire grounds of Hogwarts in size. The architecture was particularly interesting, it was Roman, all white marble with towering pillars and sculptures complete with reliefs covering the flat surfaces. This style made up the entire front façade, but as the building spread out to either side, the architecture, while still roman, became more and more neoclassical.

But that transition of time periods paled in comparison to the contrast between the rest of the building and the two symmetrical enormous muggle postmodern skyscrapers that seemed to reflect each other. Wondering why a port key in the library brought him here and if it was still under Fidelius warding, Harry ran to the doors, which opened on his approach. Inside he found a small army of about 50 house elves excitedly bowing to him in an incredible entrance hall.

"Welcome to the Potter library Master Potter. It has been many years since the late Lord Potter graced us with his presence. I am Fibly, Head House Elf of the Potter estates." Harry was shocked at both the fact that this building was a library, and, to a lesser amount, the house elf's amazing grammar. He shoved his surprise down for dealing with later, and concentrated on the more important issues.

"Are we safe here? Voldemort might be looking for me." Being keyed into the Potter wards, he could feel them relaying information about the location of the living beings in the library, but he didn't know how sturdy the wards on this building were.

"The ward keystones here are charmed to mirror the keystone at Potter Manor. As you have raised the Fidelus wards around that property, this one will be impossible to find." Draco, the secret Ravenclaw that he was, was suddenly distracted from the thought of a library this size, and asked a question for the house elf.

"You said keystones, are there more than one?"

"Yes, as the library was expanded, the elves ran across the ward boundary, and as house elves are unable to cast or expand wards, they duplicated the wardstone from this section and the wards were duplicated with it. This has happened 4 times thus far. Speaking of the elves, allow me to introduce you to your servants. Starting with the Common Acquisitions Department, we have Bigly, Buyby, Farry, Stely, Haggy, and Storby. They are tasked with buying or obtaining every book, newspaper, and journal published in both the magical and muggle worlds. Here we ha—"

"Wait a minute, you can't mean EVERY book can you? Who pays for all that? How can 6 elves buy that many books?" _"That would certainly explain the size of this place."_ Harry didn't expect a response from Draco, if souls could faint, Draco would be on the floor.

"This library contains every publicly accessible book from the time of its creation onward. The elves have worked with the goblins to form contracts with every major publisher in the magical and muggle worlds. The contracts are protected by secrecy oaths, so any enemies of the Potter Family will not know of this collection. As to who provides the funds, the Goblins at Gringotts have a long standing contract with the Potters. They provide a minimum return of 10% a quarter on the gold in the Potter family vaults, in return for copies of every reference source on finance and metallurgy we obtain in addition to a 5% commission on interest made. In an attempt to retain the Potter's graces, the average return has exceeded that minimum by 2.6%. May I finish introductions and explain the workings after the elves have returned to their work?" Fibly continued to introduce the other 46 house elves by department, although Harry failed to retain any of their names. He then guided Harry through a few hallways and into a large study, which he introduced as his own.

"I suppose I should start at the beginning. Your grandfather held great resentment towards certain aspects of the family, and told your father a very limited and skewed history. You will be unable to learn a complete and adequate history through his journal. The Potters have been dedicated to knowledge for thousands of years, before the time of Merlin. Specifically, the Potters have been focused on knowledge that is not publicly accessibly, and considered secret. In the past, the Potter Family has made its fortune by collecting knowledge on their political enemies, and selling it to their opposition.

"So my family is made up of spies." "_Gryffindors aren't supposed to do that"_

* * *

**A/N: **Updates every week? How does that sound? Hols are always busy, but I think I can do that.

**PS:** If you like it, review. If you don't like it, review. I have no clue what you like, so if you want it, you gotta let me know. (Not saying I'm gonna accommodate Mpreg just cause you demand it, but Harry's opinions on Dumbles, Hermy, and Weasel are open in my mind.)

**PPS:** I really hate Ron as a person, so it'll take some convincing to keep WeasleyBashing out of this.


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